04. 05. 2023.

From 3 to 4 May 2023 the Republic Agency for the Peaceful Settlement of Labor Disputes hosted a visit by a tripartite delegation from the Republic of Albania, consisting of two representatives of representative trade unions (Confederation of Trade Unions and United Independent Trade Unions), two representatives of employers (Business Albania), two representatives of the Ministry of Finance and Economy in charge of social dialogue and labor relations, and Dorina Nika, a representative of the International Labor Organization in Albania.

The tripartite study visit aimed to provide the guests with a first-hand insight into the experiences of a standing, dedicated and specialized dispute resolution institution at one place, which settles individual and collective disputes. Our Agency was chosen as the target institution for the study visit due to its mandate dealing with individual and collective disputes and combined expertise of almost 20 years.

The director introduced the guests to the practice of the Agency, and Dragana Andonovska, head of the Legal Affairs Group, and Biljana Stojić, head of the Financial Affairs Group, spoke about the financing of the Agency, as well as of its conciliators and arbitrators. Miloš Prokić, advisor, spoke about digitization in the Agency operations, electronic database, promotional activities and quality management.

The guests also learned about the work of conciliators and arbitrators in a direct discussion with Zorica Radović and prof. Dr. Bojan Urdarević, but also about experiences of users in a discussion with Saša Torlaković, the president of the Union of Construction Workers and Construction Materials Industry of Serbia.

The visit was a part of the project entitled "Access to justice in labor disputes through mediation and conciliation" implemented by the ILO with the financial support of the Government of Sweden, which provides support to the Albanian tripartite constituents in revising the existing system of peaceful settlement of labor disputes and formulation of measures to increase its efficiency and outreach.

After this visit, a working group will be set up to prepare a proposal for the establishment of a specialized agency for labor disputes in Albania. It will be the third agency created following the model of our Agency, in addition to the Agency for Peaceful Settlement of Labor Disputes of Montenegro and the PI (Public Institution) Agency for Peaceful Settlement of Labor Disputes from the Republic of Srpska (Bosnia and Herzegovina). We are very proud of the fact that our model of resolving labor disputes is of interest in the region and that we can share our experience and good practice.